The screen door banged open, and Susan stood framed in the doorway. She held a gun too, but hers pointed at Alejandro. "I think not, Agent Vasquez. This is my town, and your laws don't apply here. Put your gun down, and we can discuss it."
"I knew I liked you," Logan said, grinning at Susan, who slanted a narrow-eyed look at him.
"I'd advise against any sudden moves, or I'll be happy to shoot you for Agent Velasquez," she told him, turning so she was now aiming at Logan.
My head twinged, and I blew out a breath. "Enough! Let's sit down and have something to eat—is there dinner?"
Jack nodded. "I was just getting ready to grill steaks."
"We'll eat, we'll have dessert, and then we'll figure this out," I said firmly. "No shooting anybody on an empty stomach."
Even as the words came out of my mouth, I realized they made little sense, but I didn't care, because everybody was listening to me. The tension in the yard ratcheted down several notches, and Alejandro put his gun away, albeit reluctantly.
I retrieved the pie from Jack and headed to the house. We'd eat, we'd talk, and we'd figure out how to save Dead End from the Fae. Everything else—even pregnant unicorns—could wait.
But…
"Unicorns exist?Unicorns? And they live in Germany?"
Alejandro's lips twitched. "Yes, and other places, like Siberia. How did you know these were from Germany, if you didn't even know unicorns existed?"
I shrugged while shouldering the screen door aside. "Schwarzwaldis German for Black Forest, which is a mountain range in southwest Germany bordering France. We had a cuckoo clock in the shop once that was made there in the early 1700s—the Black Forest is renowned for them—and I read up on the region. I've always hoped to travel there one day."
"Ah. It is hard for you to travel, I imagine," he murmured, a hint of sympathy in his expression, but I pretended not to see it.
I hated it when anybody felt sorry for me.
Sure, it would be practically impossible to fly without touching strangers. Getting shoved on the airport shuttle or bumped in the airplane's aisle—a minor annoyance to most people could be a major stressor for me.
Idefinitelydidn't want to know how the pilot died.
But one day … one day I'd find a way. I wanted to explore the world. All the amazing historic sites. The music and culture and food.
One day, I'd do it. And, hopefully, I wouldn't be alone.
By the time we were all in the kitchen, I realized Jed was nowhere to be seen.
"Jack? Where is your granddad?"
"He's resting." Jack frowned. "He looked completely exhausted, but I'm surprised he didn't come outside just now. Even in the back bedroom, he would have heard the standoff, due to—"
"Superior tiger hearing," Susan and I intoned together. Then the two of us burst out laughing, dispersing whatever tension still lingered in the air to a considerable degree.
"They're not wrong," the man himself said, walking out from the guest bedroom.
I had to clench my jaw to keep from gasping. The Jed who stood in the kitchen with us now appeared to have aged ten years since I'd seen him only a few hours before.
I pasted my biggest smile on my face and bustled over to the table, where I put the pie down in the center. "Hello, Mr. Shepherd. It's nice to see you again. I brought a chocolate pie. It's only one, but I have cookie dough, so I can pop cookies in the oven after dinner."
Jack's grandpa put a hand on the back of a chair, steadying himself, and returned my smile. "That's delightful, young lady. Even in this modern age of female sheriffs and electric carriages, I see we have some women who understand their rightful roles are to cook for and care for their men. Please call me Jed. Or," he glanced at Jack. "Grandfather."
"Oh, boy," Susan muttered, but I just laughed.
"Well, I can see how it must be a shock to you to wake up to an entirely different set of societal rules and expectations, Mr.—Jed. I love to cook and bake for my friends and family, but I also own and run a business," I said.
Behind me, I heard Logan and Alejandro having a terse, low-voiced discussion, and when I glanced back at them, Logan was handing the agent his phone.
"Your own Boston division agents will verify my claim," the eagle shifter said. "Talk to them. They're the ones who found me after the harbor patrol fished me out of the water. I nearly bled to death."
